Mysterious Mave
by roseamelie89
Summary: Mave moves to Baker Street thinking she will have a normal life, without adventures. And how wrong she is. From the day she meets Sherlock and John, everything turns over. Will she ever figure out who Sherlock really is? Sherl/OC, Moriarty/OC
1. Chapter 1

This is one of my first fanfictions, so, as much as I would love to take in suggestions and critics, please don't over load in hate. If you do not like it, you do not have to read it.

I do not own anything to do with Sherlock. I do not own the settings or the characters except my OC, Mave.

I will try to update once every one to two weeks but there is no guarantee that I will ever finish it.

* * *

It was late September when Mave moved into her new London flat. Her parents had pushed her to attend an internationally renowned university and at the same time start working in one of London's famous hospitals. She didn't mind. She loved what she did. All science was her thing. Analysing, dissecting. In her scientific school she had until then attended, many boys used to moke here for her intelligence. But she out-smarted them so much they could hardly do anything to stop her being top of her class. Her teachers adored her and at parents evening they would explode of delight talking about her. But there were always those few who admitted that she was, as they called it, 'shy'. At least, everyone thought she was. But she only just didn't talk much, unless to answer questions and ask them. She hardly had any friends and kept away from others. Some said she was arrogant, believing everyone was below her, but only very few, for she always had her head down.

She was, according to her parents, to become a scientist the world had never seen before. They exaggerated, of course, but they were sure she would have a great life. Mave was glad to leave home. She could finally be alone, to the silence, think, learn.

It was nearing automn when Mave knocked on the door. Mrs Hudson opened it.

"I'm Mave, I rented the flat..."

"Ah yes! Come on in! Would you like some tea? Must have been a long way!"

"Oh, no thank you, I've got a lot to do and sort out."

"Oh all right, well its right here let me just get the keys."

She marched off while Mave took in her surroundings. She was standing in a hallway. On the left, stairs were going up. Parallel to them, the hallway lead to the owners flat and to the right was the door to presumably Mave's new flat. Mrs. Hudson returned and opened the door. There was an empty living room. A small kitchen was in the back and a door to the left lead to bedroom and the bathroom.

"Great! Right um... just like that, does anyone live in the flat upstairs?"

"Yes well, there are two men sharing a flat upstairs," she said smiling happily while Mave smiled back.

"Ah, okay. Right then, I'll go sort everything out then."

"Alright dear, do give me a call if there are any problems!"

She started packing out. After having unpacked the basics, she left the flat to go look for a supermarket and to look around the place. She soon found one and bought some things to eat. She went to what she called now home. She called her parents as planned and went into the kitchen, sighing.

"Okay spaghetti,"she said to her groceries. "You better not burn or else."

She started cooking. It was a disaster.

"Great," she said sarcastically as she sat on the floor, laptop opened across her and started eating. She researched about the area and checked her pen-pal account. No answers yet. She looked at her profile and noticed it still read 119 Green Road.

Without hesitation, she changed it to 221C Baker Street. She noticed how she hadn't filled in the personality and interests column. Perhaps that's why no one was answering. She started typing.

"28 year old scientific nerd who loves out-smarting others. Just kidding, guess a little bit of sense of humour... Contact me if you don't mind me being such a know it all. PS: looking for someone to write to because I'm bored and have nothing better to do."

That'll do, Mave thought to herself.

As Mave continued with the cleaning, she heard a door open. Her curiosity got the better of her. She poked her head out of her door and saw two men standing before the threshold. One of them was short and the other was quite tall with shining black curly hair.

"Oh, hello!"said the short one. "Mrs. Hudson told us someone took the flat. My name's John."

He put out his hand. Mave took it smiling.

"I'm Mave."

"Oh yes and this is-" he turned around to present the other man but he was gone. "Yes well, seems like he already went upstairs."

Mave fought in a giggle. "Okay..."

"So..." John started into the awkward silence. "Want to come upstairs for some tea?"

"Tea? So British! I haven't drunk some in years. Sure!"

She walked upstairs with him.

"So, your flatmate..."

"Ah yes, I nearly forgot," he said stopping in front of the closed door. "He can be a bit... awkward at times."

Mave looked at him, confused.

"He's not really the social kind of guy, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, okay."

They walked into the flat. The man was sitting on an armchair, fingers under his chin, eyes closed.

John cleared his throat. "Um, Sherlock?"

The man didn't make any sign of having heard John.

"I see what you mean," Mave said smiling.

"Anyway," John said walking into the kitchen. He realised what a mess there was. "Oh god he should clean up once in a while".

Mave went around to follow him and was met by the sight of counters covered with scientific instruments.

"Sorry about that," John said trying to clean it up.

"No! No it's okay! I'm a scientist. This is really cool!"

John looked surprised as Mave observed the solutions with curiosity.

"Do you think he'll mind if I-" she said, pointing to the microscope. "I'd love to have a look."

"Of course!" John said, preparing the tea. Mave peered into the microscope.

"Interesting, seems like he does DNA analyses, is he some sort of police officer?"

"Not quite. He calls himself the _only_ consulting detective," John said rolling his eyes.

"Right," Mave replied laughing. "Anything else I should know about him?"

"Yes well you know," he started whispering, "He kind of deduces people with one glance, knows everything about everyone with a look on the clothes they wear, on how they walk or how their eyes look."

"You mean a sociopath."

"Precisely. "

John got out the tea. "Dammit, we haven't got any milk."

"Wait I'll get some," Mave said and hurried to her flat. She came back a few seconds later. Sherlock was still sitting there but had gotten out a violin.

"He can play the violin?"she asked John who took the milk.

"He says it helps him think."

"And why-"

"We're on a case."

"A police case?"

"Yup."

"Uh, okay."

There was a moment of silence as they sipped their tea. Music started playing. Some moments later, Mave felt a buzz in her pocket. Someone was calling her.

"Excuse me" she said quickly running into the hallway.

Some moments later she came back.

"Who was it?"

"It's just because of my job I'm doing alongside Uni, I'm starting tomorrow. Thanks for the tea, but I have to get my things ready."

"Sure. Where do you work?"

"In the nearby hospital."

At this John laughed.

"Really?"

"Yes, why?"

"We go there all the time for his experiments. Sorry but you're going to have to put up with us a lot more."

Sherlock gave a big sigh while rolling his eyes. He put down his violin and let himself fall onto the couch.

Mave went back to her flat pondering on who she had just met.

 _These years are bound to be fun,_ _s_ he thought to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

She got as much done as possible and her flat looked a lot more home like. She prepared all her things and was pretty excited. The next morning she got up early to get to work. She arrived at the hospital and was showed around to the labs and the offices. She started by doing some paperwork and was due to start experiments the week after that. It was almost lunch so she decided to go to the nearby cafeteria. She met with Molly, whom she had met in the office. She also seemed quite shy but soon became more outgoing. She tried to be funny sometimes but ended up being awkward. But they sat together nevertheless, Mave knew how important it was to not seem alone on a first day. Late in the evening she arrived back home, exhausted with the work. She opened her laptop: no new emails. She decided to search up John and Sherlock, the names sounded familiar. And there it was, John's blog. She looked through it. She really didn't care about their investigations, but she wanted to learn more about mysterious Sherlock.

Mave didn't see them much after that, they only met in the corridor once in a while. John always stayed to talk but Sherlock was always gone like the wind. Not even a few days passed when John asked Mave out for dinner. He was standing in front of the door, out of breath.

"Like, you know, in a restaurant, nearby..."

"Sorry John, I've got stuff to do..." Mave stood there unsure what to say. Trying to change the subject, she noticed John didn't have his walking stick.

"Oh yes, um, seems like I don't need it anymore."

"Well that's great, isn't it?"

"Yes, it sure is... will you at least come up for some tea?"

"Okay, but not for long. I'll meet you upstairs." she hurried back into her flat quickly before going up to the flat.

Her curiosity was rising like a roller coaster. When she entered she saw about ten people searching all around the flat.

"What is this?"

John went over to her.

"Lestrade set up a drug bust to annoy Sherlock." he said pointing to a man sitting casually on the armchair.

"This is childish." It was the first time Mave heard Sherlock talk, it seemed as if he hadn't even noticed she was there.  
"Well, I'm _dealing_ with a child. Sherlock, this is _our_ case. I'm letting you in, but you do _not_ go off on your own. Clear?"

Mave observed the scenery in front of her with amazement.  
"Oh, so you set up a pretend drugs bust to bully me?"  
"It stops being pretend if they find anything."  
"I am clean!"  
"Is your flat? All of it?"  
"I don't even smoke."  
"Neither do I. So let's work together. We've found Rachel."  
"Who is she?"  
"Jennifer Wilson's only daughter."  
"Her daughter? Why would she write her daughter's name? Why?"  
"Never mind _that_. We found the case." said a man standing in the kitchen. He was pointing at a pink suitcase on the low table. "According to _someone_ , the murderer has the case, and we found it in the hands of our favourite psychopath."  
"I'm not a psychopath, Anderson. I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research. You need to bring Rachel in. You need to question her. _I_ need to question her.  
"She's dead."  
"Excellent! How, when and why? Is there a connection? There _has_ to be."  
"Well, I doubt it, since she's been dead for fourteen years. Technically she was never alive. Rachel was Jennifer Wilson's stillborn daughter, fourteen years ago."  
"No, that's ... that's not right. How ... Why would she do that? _Why?"_  
"Why would she think of her daughter in her last moments?! Yup – sociopath; I'm seeing it now." said the man from the kitchen.  
"She didn't _think_ about her daughter. She scratched her name on the floor with her fingernails. She was dying. It took effort. It would have hurt."

Mave was trying to understand everything they were saying even if she didn't have a clue on what was going on. Next to her John spoke up.  
"You said that the victims all took the poison themselves, that he _makes_ them take it. Well, maybe he ... I don't know, talks to them? Maybe he used the death of her daughter somehow.  
"Yeah, but that was _ages_ ago. Why would she still be upset?"

The flat fell silent and everyone looked at Sherlock. He realized it was because of what he said and turned to John.  
"Not good?"  
" _Bit_ not good, yeah."  
"Yeah, but if you were dying ... if you'd been murdered: in your very last few seconds what would you say?"  
"Please, God, let me live."  
"Oh, use your imagination!"  
"I don't _have_ to."  
"Yeah, but if you were clever, _really_ clever ... Jennifer Wilson running all those lovers: she _was_ clever."

Mave know began to understand. She hesitated but decided to speak up.

"Maybe she did it to tell us something." she said into the void.  
"Exactly" said Sherlock unchanged, as if it had not been uttered by someone else than him.  
Mrs Hudson came up behind Mave.

"Isn't the doorbell working? Your taxi's here, Sherlock."

"I didn't order a taxi. Go away."  
"Oh, dear. They're making such a mess. What are they looking for?"  
"It's a drugs bust, Mrs Hudson."  
"But they're just for my hip. They're herbal soothers. _"_

As Mrs Hudson said this Mave turned back to Sherlock and noticed he was anxiously pacing around, seeming to get angry.  
"Shut up, everybody, shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe. I'm trying to think. Anderson, face the other way. You're putting me off."  
"What? My _face_ is?!"

Mave couldn't suppress a laugh.  
"Everybody quiet and still"Lestrade said, looking at Mave. He then turned to Anderson. "Anderson, turn your back."  
"Come on, think. Quick!"  
"What about your taxi?" Mrs Hudson asked.  
"MRS HUDSON!" Sherlock bellowed past Mave.  
"Oh." he suddenly uttered with disbelief. "Ah! She was clever, clever, yes! She's cleverer than you lot and she's dead. Do you see, do you get it? She didn't _lose_ her phone, she never lost it. She _planted_ it on him. When she got out of the car, she knew that she was going to her death. She left the phone in order to lead us to her killer.  
"But how?"  
"What...? What do you mean, how? Rachel! Don't you see? _Rachel!_ Oh, look at you lot. You're all so vacant. Is it nice not being me? It must be _so_ relaxing. Rachel is not a name.  
"Then what is it?"  
"John, on the luggage, there's a label. E-mail address."

Mave went through everything in her head.

"Oh, I've been too slow. She didn't have a laptop, which means she did her business on her phone, so it's a smart-phone, it's e-mail enabled. So there was a website for her account. The user-name is her e-mail address ..."

"And Rachel is her password!"exclaimed Mave.  
"Exactly" he said, again indifferently, typing it in.  
"So we can read her e-mails. So what?" asked Anderson.  
"Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the I.Q. of the whole street. We can do much more than just read her e-mails. It's a smart-phone, it's got GPS, which means if you lose it you can locate it online. She's leading us directly to the man who killed her. Come on, come on. Quickly!"

A map was appearing on the screen. John sat down in front of it.  
"Sherlock ..."  
"It narrows it down from just anyone in London. It's the first proper lead that we've had."  
"Sherlock ..."  
"What is it? Quickly, where?"  
"It's here. It's in two two one Baker Street."

Mave began looking around. The murderer was here?!  
"How can it be here? _How_?"  
"Well, maybe it was in the case when you brought it back and it fell out somewhere."  
"What, and I didn't notice it? _Me_? I didn't notice?"  
"Anyway, we texted him and he called back."  
"Guys, we're also looking for a mobile somewhere here, belonged to the victim ..."

Mave stared at them. Surely the phone wasn't just here by accident. One of them was the one they were looking for.

"Sherlock, you okay?" asked John as he saw him looking down the stairs. Mave quickly turned around to look, but there was nothing.  
"What? Yeah, yeah, I-I'm fine."  
"So, how can the phone be here?"  
"Dunno."  
"I'll try it again."  
"Good idea."  
 _"_ Where are _you_ going?"  
"Fresh air. Just popping outside for a moment. Won't be long."  
"You sure you're all right?"  
"I'm fine."

Sherlock was gone. He didn't come back after minutes and Mave started getting nervous. She was thinking if the murderer had been here, he might have tried to get Sherlock to come with him. But it was too late. First, they would need the location of the phone. And it wasn't there anymore. That encouraged Mave's theory. When the location was set, John got the laptop and left, Mave at his tail. They hailed a taxi and went to the location. A cab was standing in front of two buildings.

"We should split up." said Mave.

"Okay. You take the building on the left, I take the one on the right."

"Okay."

They both set off.

"Be very careful!" John called.

"You too." Mave called back.

Mave entered the old looking building. It was renewed inside and Mave found herself in a corridor with a large number of big rooms on each side. She stopped in her steps. What in the world of humanity was she actually doing here? How did she even get here? Was it compassion for John, or did she worry about that mysterious Sherlock that didn't even know she existed? She gathered her courage. Wasn't this what she wanted? Some action, adrenaline running through her veins. She wouldn't miss this for the world, so she continued down the corridor. This was going to be a long search. She entered each room, occasionally calling Sherlock. She feared she was being watched. She was sure the murderer wasn't alone. She was starting the third floor when she heard a gun fire. She let out a scream and ran towards where the sound had come from. She ran into another door and banged into someone. She backed off quickly and looked up. Sherlock. She let out a small sigh. Sherlock looked at her with a slight confused expression.

"You."

"Wow! First time you noticed I was there!"

"Don't be absurd." he said exhausted with sigh and an eye roll.

"I'm not. I'm being sarcastic. And it's true anyway."

"Yes well now is not the time. Let's go. The police is coming."

"Gosh I am so scared." Mave said exaggerating. She rolled her eyes and continued down the hall behind him. She slipped away easily when they arrived outside. Here and there police cars were parked, Lestrade was waiting there. While he and Sherlock talked, Mave moved over to the other side of the newly installed police tape. There she met up with John.

"What happened? I just heard a gun shot and-"

"That was me."

"What?"

"Let's... not talk about that right now." he said looking around. They watched as people put a blanket over Sherlock.

"So that's my evening gone..."sighed Mave.

"Sorry about that..."

"It's okay. I agreed to come... though I don't really know why. Sometimes I do things because I just get too bored."

Sherlock arrived and John turned to him.

"Um, Sergeant Donovan's just been explaining everything, the two pills. Been a dreadful business, hasn't it? Dreadful."  
"Good shot."  
"Yes. Yes, must have been, through that window."  
"Well, _you'd_ know."

Mave smiled at them both.  
"Need to get the powder burns out of your fingers. I don't suppose you'd serve time for this, but let's avoid the court case. Are you all right?"  
"Yes, of course I'm all right."  
"Well, you _have_ just killed a man.  
"Yes, I ...That's true, isn't it? But he wasn't a very _nice_ man."  
"No. No, he wasn't really, was he?"  
"And frankly a bloody awful cabbie."  
"That's true. He _was_ a bad cabbie. Should have seen the route he took us to get here!"  
They both started to laugh. Mave looked around.

"Stop! Stop, you can't giggle, it's a crime scene! Stop it!"  
"John is the one who shot him. Don't blame me."  
"Keep your voice down!" said John "You were gonna take that damned pill, weren't you?  
"Course I wasn't. Biding my time. Knew you'd turn up."  
"No you didn't. It's how you get your kicks, isn't it? You risk your life to prove you're clever."  
"Why would I do that?"  
"Because you're an idiot."  
"Goodness me you should both see yourselves."

That evening nothing more happened compared to what they had gone through. As they arrived at 221, they separated paths.

"Till next time, Mave Johnson" said Sherlock putting out his hand.

Surprised at how he knew her last name, she shook it.

"Till next time, Sherlock Holmes."

She went into her flat smiling at herself.


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't know if I've already mentioned this, but I wrote this a loooooong time ago. It's full of errors as such that I'll try to correct when I finally gather the courage to read through it._

 _But anyway, back to what I really wanted to say: I'm currently writing a Star Wars/Force Awakens fanfic! I'll try and publish a first chapter in the coming month, so be sure to check it out!_

Days past. Mave and John often met each other downstairs, and Mave always heard news about them, searching for a new case. One afternoon, John came back while Mave was in the corridor, just having come home from Saturday work. John had just went shopping- without success. Mave went up with him. Sherlock was reading a book on the armchair and looked up at them.

"That took you time."

"Yes, I didn't get the shopping."

"Why not?"

"Apparently, he had a row, with a chip-and-PIN machine."

"You, you had a row with a machine?" he asked turning to John.

"Sort of. It sat there and I shouted abuse. Have you got cash?"

"Take my card."

John went over to the kitchen and Mave went after him, newly curious about everything in it. In one cupboard she got out a glass filled with eyeballs.

"Awesome!"

She turned to watch the conversation between John and Sherlock.

"You've not even moved since I left. And what happened about that case you were offered – the Jaria Diamond?"  
"Not interested."

Mave smirked at his stubbornness  
"I sent them a message."

Mave looked over at Sherlock who sat there innocently, pushing something beneath the seat with his foot. Mave moved over and saw that it was a sword. She looked at him, puzzled. As John went away he half smiled at her and she half laughed back. There was a ring that came from her pocket. She had received an email.

"Great... gotta go. See you!"

She skipped down the stairs gracefully and went into her flat. She let herself fall onto the couch and opened up her email.

'Hi! I saw your pen-pal account and thought you could be someone to write to. I can also get bored at times. I'm an actor but sounds cool that you're a scientist. I did some studies in that area, but, you know, kind of goes away after time...

Anyway, hope to hear from you!

James.'

'Hi! Sure I'd love to talk. I'm having quite a busy time though, so please excuse me if I answer late sometimes. I work in a hospital and still attend Uni. A lot of work to do! Also, there are the flat owners above me who are never boring, and who always interrupt me working...'

An answer came not a minute after she had sent.

'Don't worry about the time, got a lot of that. Who are those flat owners?'

'Sherlock and John Watson, they've got this blog thing, you should check it out.'

'Oh! Wow! I'm a giant fan of that blog! I love their detective stories! If I weren't an actor, I really would have liked being a detective.'

'Well, he's not really a detective, he's a consulting detective.'

'Ah I see... well I'd love to be a consulting detective then. :D'

Mave looked at the screen, not knowing what to write when another message popped up.

'Care to give me your phone number? I think texting would be much easier. Besides, then we wouldn't need internet...'

'Phone numbers aren't to be given to stranger, Mister "I want to be consulting detective."'

'Sorry.'

'No matter. But I should get to work now.'

She closed the laptop and went over to her desk. Her pocket rung. A message.

'Now who's detective? ;)'

Mave stared at the message in awe.

'How did you do that?'

'…'

Mave smirked at the screen. Either it was detective work, or... it wasn't Sherlock for sure, his email address was on his blog and she knew he never uses emails. John wouldn't do that, Molly neither. Mysterious James. Who was he?


	4. Chapter 4

Mave was whistling a tune to herself while she bounced a little elastic ball on the wall. Sherlock was in the middle of going through the collage he did on the other end of the wall, thinking about the graffiti that was the object of their case. He went over it all with John while Mave listened in.

"Why do they die Sherlock?" John asked at the end.

"The Graffiti must be a message, a warning they'll be killed." said Mave catching her ball again. Sherlock looked at her.

"Only the cipher can tell us."

The next day they set off.

"Where are we headed?"asked John  
"I need to ask some advice."  
"What?! Sorry?!"asked Mave. Now she couldn't stop sniggering.  
"You heard me perfectly. I'm not saying it again."  
"You need advice?"asked John.  
"On painting, yes. I need to talk to an expert."

Mave sniggered as they continued to behind the building to find a young man spraying on the wall. But he didn't know much about the photos Sherlock showed him of the graffiti. He said he was going to look around when a community officer rounded the corner. They quickly ran for it. As Mave rounded the corner, exhausted, she noticed John wasn't with them.

"What-John? Dammit! He was holding a spray paint!" Mave turned to Sherlock. "We just left him there?"

Sherlock looked at her. It seemed that he was somehow looking a bit guilty.

"Great." said Mave. "Nice thing to do to a friend."

"He's not my friend, he's just a colleague."

"Who said that?"

"He said that."

"Right" said Mave heading home.

The next evening she found herself in their flat again. John had been upset that they had left him there. He was going to court. Mave felt sorry for him but Sherlock didn't seem to care.

"He does care." she said that day, "He's just too sociopath to show it."

John sighed as response. "Sometimes he's very annoying to live with."

"I can understand that."

They came into the flat. Mave sat down on the armchair looking at Sherlock who was sitting in front of his laptop.

"Don't you have any other friends you go to?"John asked from the kitchen.

"What?"

"You're in Uni. You're bound to have friends there."

"Really? Well... no. I mean, the people there are really, really dull. They either just think about studying or just think about partying. Anyway, they're all like, normal. Not like Sherlock, you know? How many people like him have you seen? Not to mention you're awesome too."

John let out a smile.

The next day, as she arrived from Uni, she noticed quite a few people carry big boxes upstairs. She followed them into John's and Sherlock's flat.

"What is going on here?"

John looked up at her. "Oh, it's just we've got to look through all the books the two men have in common, there should be a kind of code that tells us the meaning of the cipher...Maybe, if you want to, you could help us..."

"Oh I'd love to!" Sherlock was already looking through them and didn't seem very amused.

"What do we do?"

"The cipher means turn to page fifteen and it's the first word you read." said Sherlock.  
"Okay. So what's the message?"  
"Depends on the book. That's the cunning of the book _code_. Has to be one that they both owned." Mave looked around noticing the boxes were either labelled Van Coon or Lukis.  
"Okay, right. Well, this shouldn't take too long, should it?"

Mave and John turned to a box each and started sorting out. Then a man from new Scotland yard came in.  
"Anything else I can do? To assist you, I mean?"  
"Some silence right now would be marvellous."

Mave sniggered silently as Dimmock went out. She looked up and caught a glimpse of Sherlock looking at her.


	5. Chapter 5

It was getting darker and darker outside while they went through all the books. They searched for the first word of the 15th page to get out a word, but to Mave it seemed that all those words were meaningless. Before she knew it, light was streaming into the window. She looked at her watch just as John's rung.

"Is it already morning? I've got class!"

"And I've got my job!"

Both hurried out to get ready. Mave quickly showered. She was bound to fall asleep in class. She thankfully arrived there on time. For the sake of being tired, she skipped her usual morning class and slept in the maintenance cupboard, asking herself why she had not stayed at home.

She was sitting on a box in the dark when her phone rung. A message.

'Skipping class are we?'-James

'Who are you?'

'Would you like to meet me somewhere? I live in London, nearby.'

Mace sighed at the screen as another text appeared.

'See you tomorrow.'

The next day, she was going to work in the hospital. She was a bit happy about it. This James obviously knew she attended Uni, but he couldn't know everything, right? On the same note, she noticed how Sherlock had never deduced her and wondered what he actually thought about her. In any case, for her, he was Spock. Emotionless but intelligent. But she felt that she didn't know enough to really judge on his feelings, if he had them.

In the evening she returned to her flat and went upstairs to see if they still had any books to sort out. John wasn't there, but he said he'd come round that time. Mave sat down, looking through some books. Sherlock, and Mave, for the matter, seemed to have mutually not noticed each other. But only seemed.

"We're looking for a book anyone would own." Mave looked up as Sherlock went through his own book shelf. He got out a dictionary, the bible and turned to page 15. But again the words seemed useless.

"How about like a map of the London, everyone owns that." Mave said to herself before quickly adding "How intelligent of me. That's not even a book at all."

Mave thought she heard Sherlock let out a snigger when footsteps came up the stairs.

"I need to get some air. We're going out tonight." said Sherlock.  
"Actually, I've, er, got a date."

Mave turned around and looked at him in awe.  
"What?"  
"It's where two people who like each other go out and have fun."  
"That's what _I_ was suggesting."  
"No it wasn't ... at least I _hope_ not."

Mave laughed and turned back to John.

"Oh my god that's so wonderful!" she said, happy for him.  
"Where are you taking her?"asked Sherlock.  
"Er, cinema."  
"Oh, dull, boring, predictable. Why don't you try this?" he said handing him a piece of paper. "In London for one night only."  
"Thanks, but I don't come to you for dating advice."

Long story short, he ended up going anyway. Sherlock booked a place too and Mave was left alone in her flat. It was one of the few evenings the building was silent. She sat on her couch and got bored. She got out her ear plugs and listened to some music before getting fed up with it. She heard a ring from her pocket.

'Bored?'

She decided to answer.

'Yup.'

She heard footsteps above her and ran up the stairs.

"Back already?" she looked at them and noticed a woman she didn't know. She stretched out her hand. "Hi I'm Mave! Got the flat downstairs."

"Hi! I'm Sarah!"

Mave smiled across at John. Sherlock went to his wall collage and went over it.

Sarah watched all three look at the wall and then spoke.

"Well I think that perhaps I should leave you to it."

They all spoke at the same time.

John and Mave: "No no no you don't have to go, you can stay."

Sherlock: "Yes it would be better to study if you left now."

"He's kidding. Please stay if you'd like."

"Is it just me or is anyone else starving?"

Mave looked at Sherlock automatically and saw him sigh loudly.

While Sarah looked around the flat, Mave helped John search for something edible in the kitchen, which was pretty hard to find.

"Wait let me just go downstairs. I'll get something to eat."

At that moment Mrs Hudson came around the corner.

"I've done punch, and a bowl of nibbles."  
"Mrs Hudson, you're a saint!" said John. "Thank you! Thank you!

"Thanks!" Mave added just before she went away again.

"John." Sherlock called from the living room. "John, look at this. Soo Lin at the museum – she started to translate the code for us. We didn't see it! "NINE" "MILL".  
"Nine Million!" exclaimed Mave.  
"Nine million quid. For what? We need to know the end of this sentence." he said, getting his coat.  
"Where are you going?"  
"To the museum; to the restoration room. Oh, we must have been staring right at it!"  
"At-at what?"  
"The book, John. The book – the key to cracking the cipher! Soo Lin used it to do this! Whilst we were running around the gallery, she started to translate the code. It must be on her desk."

He turned to go.

"Wait, I'll come with you." Mave said, seeing as John wasn't going. She turned back to John smiling as she left. He smiled back at her and awkwardly stood there. He turned to Sarah.

"Dinner?"

"Sure."

Mave was out quickly. Sherlock was outside and seemed to have failed to hail a taxi. He was thinking and looking around.

"A book that everybody would own."

Mave saw a pair of tourists pass with a book. Just like that, she said the title.

"London A to Z..."

Suddenly Sherlock ran to the tourists and took their book. Mave jumped down the front door steps and looked over his shoulder. Entry one, page 15: deadman.

"So he was threatening to kill them" they said at the same time.

"Here take this." he said as he handed Mave the photograph of the graffiti and a marker. "What's the next one?"

"Thirty-seven, nine"

He quickly turned the pages.

"For"

Mave scribbled 'for' under the graffiti.

"Sixty, thirty-five"

"Jade"

Mave wrote it down.

Soon they had it all down. Mave read it out loud.

"NINE MILL FOR JADE PIN DRAGON DEN BLACK TRAMWAY."

"Tramway." Sherlock repeated.

They hurried back inside.

"John! John! I've got it! The cipher! The book! It's the London A to Z that they're using..."

They noticed no one was there, and there was yellow painting on the windows that spelled out deadman. Mave brought her hand to her mouth as she stood there in terror.

Sherlock turned around. "Come on. Quickly." he went over to the shelf to find a map of London.

He quickly layed it on the table and searched for it.

"There." Mave was pointing at what he was looking for. They jumped down the stairs and hailed a taxi. Sherlock gave the directions and they drove off. They soon got of and hurried down stairs leading to a big tunnel. Sherlock turned to Mave.

"Stay here."

He ran off before she could answer. She looked around. It was very dark, although faint light entered the tunnel behind here. She turned on the spot to see a wall half blocking her view to where Sherlock left. She turned around again when she noticed a silhouette against the light. It was the form of a man who was getting a phone out of his pocket. It looked like he was typing something when a ring in Mave's pocket made her jump. She looked down and back up. It was gone. She got out her phone and looked on the screen.

'Told you I'd see you today. Hi!' -James.

Mave laughed at it through her fear. This mysterious James...

…

Back at the hospital, Mave finally started working on real analyses and could properly work with others. She and Molly sometimes met. She had a new boyfriend and one midday proposed her to come eat with them at a nearby restaurant. So that lunch when Mave finished her duty, she walked down to the place they'd meet. She saw Molly standing next to her boyfriend, Jim.

"Hi you must be Jim." said Mave shaking his hand. He looked a bit sulky and nervous. He was definitely the Molly type.

"And you must be Mave, Molly told me you live right under Sherlock."

"Yes I do."

"Oh Molly's told me all about him."

"Well" Molly broke in, "Shall we go in?"

"Sure."

They sat down inside and took something off the menu. While they were drinking, Mave looked up and unexpectedly saw Jim looking at her curiously. She quickly looked back down as if she hadn't noticed. There were eating when Molly tried starting a conversation.

"So, what have you been doing this morning?"

"Some chemical stuff, observations, had to collect some data. Not much. How about you?" she asked though she didn't want to know.

"Oh post mortems. You know, the usual."

Jim looked nervously for the one to the other. Suddenly Molly's phone rung.

"Sorry! If you'll just excuse me..." she went up and left.

Mave had a fishy feeling. The hair on her back stood up as she looked up at Jim. He had stopped looking stressed, nor nervous. He half smiled evily.

"Hello Mave Johnson."

Her eyes gazed upon him with awe.

"Mysterious James" she whispered. "I should have known..."

He smiled at her. She quickly looked back and saw Molly still on the phone. She turned around.

"Why are you here?"

"I do love to talk face to face." he said smiling. Mave felt for a second time a shiver run down her spine.

"Who are you?" she asked, mostly to herself.

Just them Molly reappeared and Jim was the stressed and nervous guy again. Mave acted as if nothing had happened. Who was he?

A week later, Mave came home after Uni and slammed her things on her desk. There was a lot of work to do. Suddenly she heard gun shots up above. She ran as quick as she could and saw Sherlock shooting at the wall. John hurried in behind her.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

Writing can be dull at times, believe me.

"Bored." he moaned. He aimed the gun again and shot. "Bored."

John seemed to not appreciate but Mave was on the edge of laughing. When Sherlock finally stopped he added: "The wall had it coming."

At this moment Mave burst out with laughter and just couldn't stop, although she quickly calmed down. Sherlock had let himself fall onto the couch with a last cold look at her.

"What about the case in Belarus"

"Not worth my time." moaned Sherlock.

"Anything in? I'm starving."

John went into the kitchen and silently complained about the mess. Mave set herself on the top of an armchair. John opened the fridge and gasped before quickly closing it again.

"What is it?"asked Mave.

"There- there's a head."

"Just tee for me thanks." said Sherlock. Mave laughed but turned serious.

"Wait! Let me see!" She said enthusiastically jumping over the armchair. She noticed Sherlock turn his head to look at her for a split second. She opened the fridge and saw a severed head in it.

John turned back to the living room while Mave stood staring at the head.

"There's a head in the fridge."

"Yes..."

"A bloody head!"

"Where else am I supposed to put it?"

Mave was sniggering coming back into the room.

"Will you ever stop laughing?!" asked Sherlock.

"It's you it's to blame! You're saying the funny stuff!"

Sherlock choke his head and ruffled his hair turning to John.

"I see you've written down the taxi driver case."he said lazily while Mave sat down opposite John. "A study in Pink. Nice."

Mave rose her eyebrows in surprise.

"Well you know, pink lady, pink case, pink phone... there was a lot of pink."

Mave let out a laugh.

"Did you like it?"

Mave was on the edge of her seat waiting for Sherlock's response.

"Ummmmm... no"

"What? Why not?"protested Mave.

"I thought you'd be flattered" said John.

"Flattered."Sherlock said. "Sherlock sees through everyone and everything in seconds. What's incredible though is how spectacularly ignorant he is about some things."

"Look, I didn't mean."

"Oh, you meant "spectacularly ignorant" in a _nice_ way! Look, it doesn't matter to me who's Prime Minister ... or who's sleeping with who ..."  
"Whether the Earth goes round the Sun ..." John put in.  
"Not that again. It's not _important_." Sherlock said, getting frustrated.  
"Not impor… It's primary school stuff. _How_ can you not know that?"  
"Well, if I ever did, I've deleted it."  
" "Deleted it"?"  
"This is my hard drive,"said Sherlock pointing to his brain. "and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful ... _really_ useful. Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish, and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters. Do you see?"  
"But it's the _solar system!"  
"_Oh, hell! What does that _matter_?! So we go round the Sun! If we went round the Moon, or round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference. All that matters to me is the work. Without that, my brain rots. Put _that_ in your blog. Or better still, stop inflicting your opinions on the world."

To that John got up and got his jacket.  
"Where are you going?" said Mave, standing up. Sherlock was looking over his shoulder at John.  
"Out. I need some air." he said.  
Mave was hesitating to follow him.

"Leave him, he's going to Sarah anyway."

Mave let out a sigh as she walked towards the window. Just then, Mrs Hudson came in.

"Have you two had a little domestic?" she asked. Then she saw Mave. "Oh hello Mave!"

"Hello Mrs Hudson." Mave answered with a weak smile looking back outside. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sherlock get up. He went across the room and looked out of the window beside her. She had never been so close to him. She could even feel him breathing.  
"Ooh, it's a bit nippy out there."Mrs Hudson said from the kitchen. "He should have wrapped himself up a bit more."

John was crossing the street as Mave felt a tear roll down her eye.  
"Look at that, Mrs Hudson." said a low voice right beside her. "Quiet, calm, peaceful." he turned his head and Mave felt his eyes piercing her. "Isn't it _hateful_?" he said in a soft voice which made Mave look up at him. As Mrs Hudson started once more, Mave looked outside again.  
"Oh, I'm sure something will turn up, Sherlock. A nice murder – that'll cheer you up."  
"Can't come too soon."  
"Hey. What have you done to my bloody wall?!"

Sherlock looked over to the wall. Mave looked around again, letting out a laugh and smudging her tears away.  
"I'm putting this on your rent, young man!"  
Sherlock moved to the middle of the room as Mave let her head lean on the window. He looked at his work and grinned before turning to Mave with an apologetic smile. Suddenly, without a split second warning, the whole scenery blew up. The explosion crashed into the windows, catapulting Mave over the armchair. She landed at the foot of the opposite armchair banging her head on the hard bottom of it and then on the floor. Sherlock having been protected by the wall only just fell on the floor. Mave saw and heard no more.


	6. Chapter 6

Mave moaned. Her head was screaming. She wondered where she was. She felt that she was laying on something comfortable. A couch? She slowly tried to open her eyes but the light was too blinding. She heard someone talk and listened. Someone was speaking. She knew that voice. From where?

"Sherlock."it said in a serious voice. "This is not a laughing matter."

Mycroft. Mave could heard cords of a violin being pulled. She couldn't bare to lay there anymore. She wanted to know what was going on. She forced her eyes open and sat up, gasping as a sudden pain pierced into her head. She turned her head towards the voice and saw the blurred silhouettes of two persons sitting in the armchairs.

"Lay back down Mrs Johnson, you should rest."said Sherlock, uninterested as always, without looking up.

"Wha-What happened." asked Mave, blinking to make the blur go away, though it hardly worked.

"Gas leak." said Sherlock, examining his violin.

Mave heard a sigh from the other man.

"Will you please focus? This is important."

"Boring."

Mave tried to get up but fell onto the floor. Embarrassed, she sat back down on the couch, annoyed at her disability to coordinate herself. She heard steps coming up the stairs.

"Mave?! Sherlock?!"

"John."

John arrived into the flat.

"I saw it on the telly. Are you okay? Where's Ma-"he said as he looked around. He saw Mave on the couch, holding her bag of ice to her head. "Oh my goodness."

Mave looked at him.

"It's okay John, I'm okay."

"No you're not! Look at you!"

"Yes she is." intervened Sherlock annoyed. "A doctor came by and gave her house arrest. She apparently "has to rest"."

"No it's okay." said Mave starting to get annoyed. "I just banged my head a bit."

"A bit?" John sighed and went over to Sherlock. "What happened?"  
"Gas leak, apparently." he repeated. He turned to Mycroft. "I can't."  
"Can't"?  
"The stuff I've got on is just too big. I can't spare the time."  
"Never mind your usual trivia. This is of national importance."  
"How's the diet?"  
" _Fine_. Perhaps _you_ can get through to him, John."  
"What?"  
"I'm afraid my brother can be very intransigent."  
"If you're so keen, why don't _you_ investigate it?"  
"No-no-no-no-no. I can't possibly be away from the office for any length of time – not with the Korean elections so … Well, you don't need to know about that, do you? Besides, a case like this – it requires... legwork."  
"How's Sarah, John? How was the lilo?"  
"Sofa, Sherlock. It was the sofa."  
"Oh yes, of course."  
" _How ...?_ Oh, never mind."  
"Sherlock's business seems to be booming since you and he became ... pals."  
"What's he like to live with? Hellish, I imagine."  
"I'm never bored."  
"Good! That's good, isn't it? How about this Mave? Is she your new girlfriend?"Mycroft asked turning to Sherlock. John awkwardly went into the kitchen feeling out of place. Mave sat up and listened, annoyed and rolling her eyes. At the same time they both spoke.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend."

Then Sherlock added, "She's a-"

"Yes?"

"Colleague."

"Colleague? Seems since her arrival she has hardly left your flat!"

Sherlock didn't reply and again pulled some cords from his violin.

"Shut up." said Mave. She didn't say it loudly nor did she seem angry. She was just annoyed.

"What do you care."

Mycroft looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"I could bore myself to death downstairs too... I like being of assistance on their cases, _if_ I even help... But I don't care what you're going to say because they became my friends and I'm not going to stop visiting them to say hi only because brother said so."

Sherlock smiled at his violin and did what might have been a smirk. Mycroft was the one who now seemed annoyed. John came back into the room carrying some cups of tea and placed a cup next to Mave.

"Thank you John." she said thankfully. Mycroft stood up and went towards John who had just placed the rest of the cups on the low table. He handed him his folder.

"Andrew West, known as Westie to his friends. A civil servant, found dead on the tracks at Battersea Station this morning with his head smashed in."  
"Jumped in front of a train?"  
"Seems the logical assumption."  
"But ...?"  
""But"?"

"Well, you wouldn't be here if it was just an accident."

Sherlock smirked again.  
"The M.O.D. is working on a new missile defence system – the Bruce-Partington Programme, it's called. The plans for it were on a memory stick."  
"That wasn't very clever." added Mave. Sherlock smirked again.  
"It's not the only copy."  
"Oh."  
"But it _is_ secret. And missing."  
" _Top_ secret?"  
"Very. We think West must have taken the memory stick. We can't possibly risk it falling into the wrong hands. You've got to find those plans, Sherlock. Don't make me order you. _"_  
"I'd like to see you try."

Mave smirked as she leaned back to rest her head.  
"Think it over. Goodbye, John, Mave. See you _very_ soon."  
At that Sherlock started to play a very irritating tone on the violin. When Mycroft was gone, he stopped.  
"Why'd you lie? You've got nothing on – not a single case. That's why the wall took a pounding. Why did you tell your brother you were busy?"

"Why shouldn't I?"  
"Oh, I see. Sibling rivalry. Now we're getting somewhere."

At that moment Sherlock's phone rung.  
"Sherlock Holmes... Of course. How could I refuse? Lestrade. I've been summoned. Coming?"  
"If you want me to."  
"Of course. I'd be lost without my blogger."

"What about Mave?"

"She'll be fine."

"I _am_ fine. I'm completely fine."corrected Mave.

"Course you are."said Sherlock as the two of them headed out. Boys.

She awoke by a buzz in her pocket. She opened her eyes getting out her phone. She had a message from James.

'Ow poor little Mave, missing out on all the fun!'

'What fun?'

'You'll soon find out...'

Meanwhile, Sherlock and John where investigating an envelope that had been in a strong box during the explosion. They got out a phone just like the one in A Study In Pink.

"You have one new message."

The phone piped five times.  
"Is that it?"  
"No. That's _not_ it."

There was a photo of a living room.  
"What the hell are we supposed to make of that? An estate agent's photo and the bloody Greenwich pips!"  
"It's a warning."  
"A warning? Let me see the photo."  
"Some secret societies used to send dried melon seeds, orange pips, things like that. Five pips. They're warning us it's gonna happen again."

"What's going to happen again?"

"Boom! And I've seen this place before."

Mave awoke again, this time at the sound of people downstairs. She was feeling much better. She thought she heard Sherlock's voice, but he wasn't coming up. She stood and put down the ice bag. She could see and walk properly again. The headache was still there, but she felt okay. She slowly went down the stairs. No one was there, but the door to 221C was open. She slowly pushed open the door and went into it. Mave advanced but as she was about to really enter the room an arm cut her off. She jumped of fright and turned to see Sherlock, John and Lestrade.

"I don't understand." said Lestrade. "Who's that?"

"I own the flat right next door."

There were pair of shoes in the living room. Sherlock neared the middle of the room.

"Remember that he's a bomber." Said John as Sherlock approached it.

Suddenly a phone rung. Sherlock answered it. The bomber was going to blow up people if Sherlock wouldn't resolve the puzzle in 12 hours.

They went straight to St Bartholomew's hospital to analyse the shoes. Mave settled down diagonally from Sherlock looking things up on the microscope that he had given her. Later John came in.

"So, who d'you suppose it was? The woman on the phone – the crying woman."  
"Oh, she doesn't matter. She's just a hostage. No lead there."  
"For God's sake, I wasn't thinking about leads."  
"You're not going to be much use to her."  
" Are-are they _trying_ to trace it, trace the call?"  
"The bomber's too smart for that. You have nothing to do. Pass me my phone."  
"Where is it?"  
"Jacket. _Careful."  
"_Text from your brother."  
"Delete it."  
"Delete it?"  
"Missile plans are out of the country now. Nothing we can do about it. _"_  
"Then why didn't he cancel his dental appointment?"  
"His what?"  
"Mycroft never texts if he can talk. Look, Andrew West stole the missile plans, tried to sell them, got his head smashed in for his pains. End of story. The only mystery is this: why is my brother so determined to bore me when somebody else is being so delightfully interesting? _"_  
"Try and remember there's a woman here who might die."  
"What for? This hospital's full of people dying, Doctor. Why don't you go and cry by _their_ bedside and see what good it does them?"

"Found results, I'm sending them." said Mave as she pressed enter.

Not a second later, Sherlock received the message.

At that moment Molly came in.  
"Any luck?"  
"Oh, yes!"

A man entered the room reluctantly. Jim.  
"Oh, sorry. I didn't ..."  
"Jim! Hi! Come in! Come in!"  
"Jim, this is Sherlock Holmes."  
"Ah!"  
"And, uh ... sorry."  
"John Watson. Hi."  
"Hi."

"And of course you already know Mave."

"Hi."said Mave smiling. She hoped no one noticed her voice gone stiff. As their eyes met Mave just stared into black grinning eyes. She shuddered as if hit by a sudden cool breeze returning to her microscope _._  
"So _you're_ Sherlock Holmes. Molly's told me all about you. You on one of your cases?"  
"Jim works in I.T. upstairs. That's how we met. Office romance."  
"Gay."  
"Sorry, what?"  
"Nothing. Um, hey.  
"Hey."

He lowered his hand, knocking over a metal dish. He quickly got it back up.  
"Sorry! Sorry!" John face palmed as Mave watched him in surprise.  
"Well, I'd better be off. I'll see you at the Fox, 'bout six-ish?"  
"Yeah!"  
"Bye."  
"Bye."  
"It was nice to meet you."  
"You too." said John in Sherlock's place. He went out and Molly looked at Sherlock, furious.  
"What d'you mean, gay? We're together."  
"And domestic bliss must suit you, Molly. You've put on three pounds since I last saw you."  
"Two and a half."  
"Nuh, three."  
"Sherlock ..."  
"He's _not_ gay. Why d'you have to spoil ...? He's _not_."  
"With that level of personal grooming?"  
"Because he puts a bit of product in his hair? _I_ put product in my hair." said John.  
"You _wash_ your hair. There's a difference. No-no – tinted eyelashes; clear signs of taurine cream around the frown lines; those tired clubber's eyes. Then there's his underwear."  
"His _underwear_?"

"Visible above the waistline – _very_ visible; very particular brand. That, plus the _extremely_ suggestive fact that he just left his number under this dish here and I'd say you'd better break it off now and save yourself the pain."  
Molly stared at him before storming off.  
"Charming. Well done." said John.  
"Just saving her time. Isn't that kinder?" Mave was smiling into her microscope.  
""Kinder"? No, no, Sherlock. _That_ wasn't kind."  
"Go on, then."  
"Mmm?"  
"You know what I do. Off you go."  
"No. Why don't you ask Mave?"

They noticed her hiding behind her microscope.  
"She has other things to do. Go on." Mave silently said 'yesssss'. "Next time." said Sherlock, having seen her.  
"I'm not gonna stand here so you can humiliate me while I try and disseminate ..."  
"An outside eye, a second opinion. It's very useful to me."  
"Yeah, right."  
" _Really."  
"_Fine."  
"I dunno – they're just a pair of shoes. Trainers."  
"Good."  
"Umm ... they're in good nick. I'd say they were pretty new ... except the sole has been well-worn, so the owner must have had them for a while. Uh, they're very eighties – probably one of those retro designs."  
"You're on _sparkling_ form. What else?"  
"Well, they're quite big, so a man's."  
"But ...?"  
"But there's traces of a name inside in felt-tip. Adults don't write their names inside their shoes, so these belonged to a kid."  
"Excellent. What else?"  
"Uh ...that's it."  
"That's it?"  
"How did I do?"  
"Well, John; _really_ well. I mean, you missed almost everything of importance, but, um, you know … The owner loved these. Scrubbed them clean, whitened them where they got discoloured. Changed the laces three ... no, _four_ times. Even so, there are traces of his flaky skin where his fingers have come into contact with them, so he suffered from eczema. Shoes are well-worn, more so on the inside, which means the owner had weak arches. British-made, twenty years old.  
"Twenty years?"  
"They're not retro – they're original. Limited edition: two blue stripes, nineteen eighty-nine."  
"But there's still mud on them. They look _new_."  
"Someone's kept them that way. Quite a bit of mud caked on the soles. Analysis shows it's from Sussex, with London mud overlaying it."  
"How do you know?"  
"Pollen. Clear as a map reference to me. South of the river, too. So, the kid who owned these trainers came to London from Sussex twenty years ago and left them behind."  
"So what happened to him?"  
"Something bad. He _loved_ those shoes, remember. He'd never leave them filthy. Wouldn't leave them go unless he had to. So: a child with big feet gets … Oh."  
"What?" asked Mave seeing him look out into the distance.  
"Carl Powers."  
"Sorry, who?" asked John.  
"Carl Powers."  
"What is it?" asked Mave.  
"It's where I began."


End file.
